Conv-OutsideInterest

From: Jim White

Date: February 4, 2014

Subject: AFVN TV

Jon,
Before I continue any further "pretending to be an expert on AFVN," I wonder if you are a member of the AFVN Yahoo Group or not. You seem to have a real interest in AFVN. Therefore, if you are not a member, why don't you join? Most of the members are former servicemen who had served with AFVN but it is also open to anyone who is interested in AFVN. Please send a message to AFVN-subscribe@yahoogroups.com if you want to join. The list is run by Bob Morecook (SP5, USA) who was an announcer on AFVN in 1972/73. I'm sending him this chain of messages so he'll know about you. This is because he does check to see if applicants have a legitimate interest IN AFVN and are not trying to get access to a group so they can advertise their favorite what-ever-their-favorite-might-be.
By becoming a member and sending your messages to the group, you will reach at lot of people who all have a good background in what AFVN was and did. You might even plan to come to our Reunion in San Diego in October in order to meet some of the people you have known as "just a face or a voice in a box."
You found my email address somehow and I imagine that it was from AFVN-RADIO-TV.org. That's OK, that is what is there for! There is a lot of information related to censorship (or not) of the news on the AFVN History page (Sections 1-5, 1-7 and 1-9). However, these do not discuss the censorship of any entertainment programs or programs from the U.S. If Laugh-in was censored, it must have been at the AFRTS studios in Los Angeles. Again, maybe others much more knowledgeable than I can help.

Jim

From: Jon Van Skiver

Date: February 3, 2014

Subject: AFVN TV

Hi Jim,

Thanks for responding to my email. I was a gunner on AC-47's, better known as SPOOKY or Puff the magic dragon based at Bien Hoa right outside of Saigon in 68-69. We're having our Spooky reunion at the Air Force Museum the first weekend of Sept. When I contacted Bobbie she was in the process of moving to Florida so I don't have her phone number but her email is bobbie6769@juno.com. Thanks for the info on AFVN TV, it explains why guys in I and II corp didn't know about her. Just curious, who was responsible for censorship? Before I left for Nam I watch Rowan and Martins Laugh in, when they showed it on AFVN TV it was cut up and censored so much it was a 30-minute show!

Thanks again,

Jon

From: Jim White

Date: February 2, 2014

Subject: AFVN TV

Jon,
You didn't say what group was having the reunion nor where you were located, but congratulations on getting Bobbie Keith to come to speak. AFVN is having a reunion in October (below) and hopefull we can get her to come to ours. Just to be sure, do you have a phone number or email address for her? Please send them to me to be sure we have them also.
Your question--
Did AFVN have studios in all the Corps areas? Yes, but I am not sure if they were located because of the corps areas or simply placed to reach as many of the GIs in Vietnam as possible. Det 2 in Da Nang, Det 5 in Quang Tri and Det 7 in Chu Lai should have pretty well covered I Corps. Det 3 in Pleiku, Det 1 oin Qui Nhon, Det 6 in Tuy Hoa and Det 4 in Nha Trang should have done the same for II Corps. The Saigon Main Station plus a transmitter site in Cat Lo should have covered most of III Corps and IV Corps All of the detachments had a radio and TV studio and could produce various local programs (news, weather and Command Information, and DJ programs).
Was AFVN a network? Well, yes, at least we considered ourselves to be one. I think that most of the radio produced or aired in Saigon went to all of the detachments in "real time." Some of it was used and some of it wasn't. However, the TV programs (some received from the U.S. and others produced in Saigon) could not be sent to the detachments in real time (as a true TV Network would have been able to do). The TV programs were put on videotape and/or kine-scope (film) and shipped to the various detachments for their use--usually about a week later. Therefore, I feel that Bobbi Keith's and other Saigon weather reports must have been pretty well restricted to the Saigon and Delta area (III and IV Corps). The weather reports from the various detachments must have been produced in each detachment's studio and were tailored for local conditions. Bobbi did the weather reports from sometime in 1967 through sometime in 1969.
Now, to backtrack a bit-- I am saying this based solely upon on my own experience in the Admin offices of AFVN plus from what I have read and come to understand from my work on the AFVN Website. I am sending this reply to the entire AFVN group and hopefully some of those in broadcasting and engineering, both in Saigon and at the detachments will be able to correct, clarify and/or chastise me.
Thanks for your interest in AFVN. And, please be sure to send me more information about your reunion and how to entice Bobbie Keith to ours.
Best wishes,

Jim White

From: Jon Van Skiver

Date: February 2, 2014

Subject: AFVN TV

Hi Jim,

Did each Corp have their own TV studios? Bobbie Keith is going to speak at our reunion and a bunch of guys said they never heard of her which seems strange since she was on every night. I thought that the AFVN TV studios were in Saigon and then the signal was transmitted to the rest of the country.

Thanks ,

Jon Van Skiver

Outside Interest in AFVN

February 2014

I have prepared this page primarily as a way to show everyone the kind of questions I sometimes have to field.

Hope that I am not making too many errors. Jim White, Webmaster

AFVN Group Conversations